The Serpent's Shadow

“Every time?” I said. “Then you’ve blacked out before?”

She explained what had happened in the House of Rest when she’d tried to destroy the nursing home with her fireballs. Just a minor little detail Sadie forgot to tell me.

“Ra is too powerful,” she said. “I’m too weak to control him. In the catacombs with the Apis Bull, I might’ve killed you.”

“But you didn’t,” I said. “You saved my life—again. I know it’s hard, but you can control the power. Ra needs to break out of his prison. The whole shadow magic idea that Sadie wants to try with Bes? I get the feeling that won’t work with Ra. The sun god needs rebirth. You understand what that’s like. I think that’s why he gave you Khepri, the rising sun.” I pointed to her scarab amulet. “You’re the key to bringing him back.”

Zia took a bite of her protein bar. “This tastes like Styrofoam.”

“Yeah,” I admitted. “Not as good as Macho Nachos. I still owe you that date at the mall food court.”

She laughed weakly. “I wish we could do that right now.”

“Usually girls aren’t so eager to go out with me. Um…not that I’ve ever asked—”

She leaned over and kissed me.

I’d imagined this many times, but I was so unprepared, I didn’t act very cool about it. I dropped my protein bar and breathed in her cinnamon fragrance. When she pulled away, I was gaping like a fish. I said something like “Hum-uh-huh.”

“You are kind, Carter,” she said. “And funny. And despite the fact you were just pushed out a window and hurled from an explosion, you’re even handsome. You’ve also been very patient with me. But I’m afraid. I’ve never been able to hold on to anyone I cared about—my parents, Iskandar.…If I’m too weak to control the power of Ra and I end up hurting you—”

“No,” I said immediately. “No, you won’t, Zia. Ra didn’t choose you because you’re weak. He chose you because you’re strong. And, um…” I looked down at the crook and flail lying at my side. “These just sort of appeared.…I think they showed up for a reason. You should take them.”

I tried to hand them over, but she curled my fingers around them.

“Keep them,” she said. “You’re right: they didn’t appear by accident, but they appeared in your hands. They may be Ra’s, but Horus must be pharaoh.”

The weapons seemed to heat up, or maybe that was because Zia was holding my hands. The idea of using the crook and flail made me nervous. I’d lost my khopesh—the sword used by the pharaoh’s guards—and gained the weapons of the pharaoh himself. Not just any pharaoh, either…I was holding the implements of Ra, the first king of the gods.

Me, Carter Kane, a homeschooled fifteen-year-old who was still learning how to shave and could barely dress himself for a school dance—somehow I’d been deemed worthy of the most powerful magic weapons in creation.

“How can you be sure?” I asked. “How could these be for me?”

Zia smiled. “Maybe I’m getting better at understanding Ra. He needs Horus’s support. I need you.”

I tried to think of what to say, and whether I had the nerve to ask for another kiss. I’d never pictured my first date being on a bone-littered riverbank in the Land of Demons, but at that moment there was no place I’d rather be.

Then I heard a bonk—the sound of someone’s head hitting a thick piece of wood. Setne let out a muffled curse. He’d managed to inchworm himself right into a broken section of keel. Dazed and off-balance, he rolled into the water and started to sink.

“We’d better fish him out,” I said.

“Yes,” Zia agreed. “We don’t want the Book of Thoth to get damaged.”

We hauled Setne onto the beach. Zia carefully dispelled just the ribbons around his chest so she could pull the Book of Thoth out from under his arm. Thankfully, the papyrus scroll appeared intact.

Setne said, “Mmm-hmmpfh!”

“Sorry, not interested,” I said. “We’ve got the book, so we’ll be leaving you now. I don’t feel like being stabbed in the back anymore or listening to your lies.”

Setne rolled his eyes. He shook his head vigorously, mumbling what was probably a very good explanation of why he’d been within his rights to turn my demon servant against me.

Zia opened the scroll and studied the writing. After a few lines, she began to frown. “Carter, this is…really dangerous stuff. I’m only skimming, but I see descriptions of the gods’ secret palaces, spells to make them reveal their true names, information on how to recognize all the gods no matter what form they try to take…”

She looked up fearfully. “With knowledge like this, Setne could have caused a lot of damage. The only good thing…as far as I can tell, most of these spells can only be used by a living magician. A ghost wouldn’t be able to cast them.”

“Maybe that’s why he kept us alive this long,” I said. “He needed our help to get the book. Then he planned on tricking us into casting the spells he wanted.”

Setne mumbled in protest.

“Can we find Apophis’s shadow without him?” I asked Zia.

“Mm-mm!” Setne said, but I ignored him.

Zia studied a few more lines. “Apophis…the sheut of Apophis. Yes, here it is. It lies in the Land of Demons. So we’re in the right place. But this map…” She showed me part of the scroll, which was so dense with hieroglyphs and pictures, I couldn’t even tell it was a map. “I have no idea how to read it. The Land of Demons is huge. From what I’ve read, it’s constantly shifting, breaking apart, and reforming. And it’s full of demons.”

“Imagine that.” I tried to swallow the bitter taste from my mouth. “So we’ll be as out-of-place here as demons are in the mortal world. We won’t be able to go anywhere unseen, and everything that meets us will want to kill us.”

“Yes,” Zia agreed. “And we’re running out of time.”

She was right. I didn’t know exactly what time it was in the mortal world, but we had descended into the Duat in the late afternoon. By now, the sun might have gone down. Walt wasn’t supposed to survive past sunset. For all I knew, he might be dying right now, and my poor sister…No. It was too painful to think about.

But at dawn tomorrow, Apophis would rise. The rebel magicians would attack the First Nome. We didn’t have the luxury to roam around a hostile land, fighting everything in our path until we found what we were looking for.

I glared down at Setne. “I’m guessing you can guide us to the shadow.”

He nodded.

I turned to Zia. “If he does or says anything you don’t like, incinerate him.”

“With pleasure.”

I commanded the ribbons to release just his mouth.

“Holy Horus, pal!” he complained. “Why did you tie me up?”

“Well, let’s see…maybe because you tried to get me killed?”

“Aw, that?” Setne sighed. “Look, pal, if you’re going to overreact every time I try to kill you—”

“Overreact?” Zia summoned a white-hot fireball into her hand.

“Okay, okay!” Setne said. “Look, that demon captain was going to turn on you anyway. I just helped things along. And I did it for a reason! We needed to get here, to the Land of Demons, right? Your captain would never have agreed to set that course unless he thought he could kill you. This is his homeland! Demons don’t ever bring mortals here unless they’re for snacks.”

I had to remember Setne was a master liar. Whatever he told me was complete and utter Apis-quality bull. I steeled my willpower against his words, but it was still difficult not to find them reasonable.

“So you were going to let Bloodstained Blade kill me,” I said, “but it was for a good cause.”

“Aw, I knew you could take him,” Setne said.

Zia held up the scroll. “And that’s why you were running away with the Book of Thoth?”

“Running? I was going to scout ahead! I wanted to find the shadow so I could lead you there! But that’s not important. If you let me go, I can still bring you to the shadow of Apophis, and I can get you there unseen.”

“How?” Zia asked.